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Having tested my first handloads (.308) I'm left with some rounds at the light end of the series which I won't be using. I will pull the bullets (kinetic hammer) and reassemble.

The cases were necksized only as they were going into the same rifle.

Do I need to necksize them again after removing the decapping pin from the Lee collet die I was using?

If you're using a kinetic hammer I'd say yes

I would the seating of the bullet would have expanded the neck somewhat so in the interest of consistent neck tension I would neck resize.

However if you remove the decapping pin from the Lee collet die then it won't resize properly.

How can I resize then with the primer in situ?

If you have a FL resiziing die you could try that without the decapper see if you get enough of the neck done before it starts touching the body of the case.

Or you could get a spare mandrel for the collet and cut it short so it doesn't decap.

Or you could decap the cases and then use the collet.

I would try reseating a bullet.
There may be enough tension left.
I have reused cases which have had bullets pulled from them without issue.
YMMV.
Tony

dromia wrote:Or you could decap the cases and then use the collet.

What would I use to do this? I have the Lee 3 die set. Do I need another piece of kit?

A universal decapping die is a useful piece of kit to have.

Or you could try decapping as you resize, not what I would do as there are too many things going on at once there but that is just me.

As Mag says they will probably take another bullet without resizing but the neck tension will be different, it is all down to how important that is to you.

Or re-seat a new bullet and put them through a Lee Factory crimp die, that should help with the neck tension.

knewmans wrote:Having tested my first handloads (.308) I'm left with some rounds at the light end of the series which I won't be using. I will pull the bullets (kinetic hammer) and reassemble.

How many rounds are we talking about?

If it is just a few, why not just keep them for foulers/warmers and shoot them off.

If it is too many for that you could pull them and re-seat the bullets with the new charge. Since you have more than a handful of them there are enough to make a small batch, albeit with slightly less neck tension, but keep them apart and they will be fine (I very much doubt you would see the difference on target even if you mixed them with rounds that haven’t been pulled).

Ultimately, if you pull them, then neck size them, then re-seat them they will eventually join your twice fired brass having nearly had 3 firings worth of neck working.

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